As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2016, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) apprentices have been shadowing senior Dstl staff who began their careers as apprentices. In total 6 current Dstl apprentices each spent a day shadowing different members of staff from across the organisation.

Supporting the National Apprenticeship Week 2016 theme ‘Rise to the top!’ the shadowing experience allowed current apprentices to meet senior staff, who began their careers as apprentices, and find out about how they got to their present role. The apprentices were also able to discover more about different roles across Dstl.

Two of those taking part included Adrian Randall, Programme Manager for Dstl’s Future Infrastructure and Ewan Walker, a Dstl Engineering Apprentice.

Adrian Randall said: “I began my career as an apprentice at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) in August 1975. My apprenticeship gave me a good base from which to build and I am now responsible for delivering Dstl’s future infrastructure major investment programme. Apprenticeships are a great way to start out and hopefully the shadowing experience has shown that those who join as apprentices really can go a long way in their careers.”

Ewan Walker said: “Shadowing Adrian was a great opportunity to see how someone who began their career as an apprentice has progressed to a senior position. I chose to do an apprenticeship because I wanted to learn doing hands-on work. Having just come out of college after studying engineering and maths, the apprenticeship was appealing since at Dstl I can work on very interesting projects and I look forward to seeing where my apprenticeship takes me.”